While the era of Riley Green and Ella Langley performing duets together may be long gone, there’s no denying the two created some serious magic on their previous collaborations.
Luckily, Coach Green’s contestants on The Voice are still keeping that spark alive. Last night, Oct. 12, the show kicked off its first Battle Round, where two members of the same team go head-to-head with a duet performance.
For Green’s standout country vocalists Joe Henley and Kenna Elpers, the “Duckman” decided to put them to the test with his 2024 Langley collaboration, “Don’t Mind If I Do.” And if you recall, it made for a pretty full-circle moment for the coach, who performed the song nearly two years ago alongside his fellow Alabama native during The Voice finale in December 2024.
Of course, a lot has changed since then, considering Green has found himself in a little hot water over the past week for name-dropping Ella on the show earlier this season and referencing their fan-favorite duets. Langley seemingly wasn’t too fond of him appearing to “take credit” for her success while complimenting one of his sister-duo acts, responding to a fan who asked about it on Instagram Live by saying, “didn’t love that but typical.”
But feuding aside, the song is simply too good not to spotlight again on the show. It already takes a lot of guts to perform someone’s self-written song right in front of them, but both singers rose to the occasion, with each of their vocals shining in different ways.
19-year-old Alabamian Joe, who originally received a nod from THE Randy Travis on his audition song, continued his hot streak with his undeniably classic voice, showing off that ’90s sound that fans can’t help but fall in love with. As for 23-year-old Indiana native Kenna, there’s no denying her voice is beyond ethereal, with even Kelly comparing her to Allison Krauss, but unfortunately, given the song choice, I think she ended up falling into the shadows.
They were a pretty stunning pairing, but at the end of the day, unfortunately, one aspiring star had to get booted. While every coach extended their admiration to Kenna, there was just no denying Joe’s standout vocals, leading Green to ultimately pick him as the winner of the battle: “Joe has got a really unique voice and has a really special talent.”
As Queen Latifah fittingly pointed out, “he got THE voice.” To catch the rest of the Battle seasons, and probably a few more Ella Langley callbacks if I had to guess, Season 30 returned tonight (Oct 13) on NBC.